Pittsburgh quarterback Tino Sunseri was the star of his own action movie Friday night, a film that he cringed at the thought of later reviewing himself.

Sunseri knows it’s going to look even uglier the second time around, and the Carrier Dome scoreboard that read Syracuse 14, Pittsburgh 13 at the final gun is an ending that won’t change.

Sunseri sighed when he pondered two Panthers’ fourth-quarter drives, both of which went into reverse at a juncture when Pittsburgh could have posted the game-turning points. The first backfired after Pittsburgh reached the Orange 29 early in the quarter and the second imploded after the Panthers crept within the SU 17 late in the contest.

“You don’t know until you go in and watch the tape. I felt like we were able to move the ball inside their 30 and you need to be able to come away with the points,’’ Sunseri said. “It’s tough whenever you lose, especially when you feel you were in a position to take the lead.’’

Sunseri almost single-handedly pull the Panthers to that edge. With running back Rushel Shell limited by injury to one carry, the Orange ganged up on star running back Ray Graham and held him to 57 yards on 24 rushes.

But Sunseri, who was hammered for five sacks, stepped up to complete 25 of 33 passes for 319 yards and no interceptions.

“You appreciate that,’’ Pitt head coach Paul Chryst said of his quarterback’s resolve. “That’s what a quarterback at this level should do. I thought he did a lot of good things out there and there’s a lot we can clean up.’’

Sunseri had the game-winning drive all cued up when Pitt took over on its own 30 with 8:05 left. The quarterback hit three straight passes to move the ball to the Orange 17.

But on first down, Sunseri tried to avoid another heavy Orange rush by tossing the ball away. There was no call initially, but after the officials huddled Sunseri was hit with a 15-yard intentional grounding penalty.

“I knew the receiver was in the vicinity,’’ Sunseri said. “You have to respect the officials’ call, and you have to be able to play on from there.’’

The Panthers did, to even more disastrous results. On second and 25 from the Syracuse 32, SU’s Brandon Reddish steamed in hard on a corner blitz from the right side and dropped Sunseri for a 9-yard loss.

“They called it, and it worked. It’s my responsibility to make sure everyone is in the perfect position (to block). I didn’t do that on that play,’’ said Panthers center Ryan Turnley.

“It’s my job to be able to right the ship on that and I’ll be able to do that next time,’’ Sunseri said.

But not Friday. On third and 34 from the 41, Sunseri tried to swing a pass out to Drew Carswell, but Carswell heard footsteps from an Orange defensive back and couldn’t control the ball.

“Obviously, I tip my hat to Syracuse,’’ Chryst said. “They made more plays and won the game. I thought going in Syracuse is a good team and I came away believing the same thing.’’

Earlier in the quarter, Pittsburgh checked into the Orange 29 looking at a first and 10. But a false start penalty cost the team five yards, and Syracuse stuffed Graham for no gain on a first and 15.

“We certainly didn’t want to abandon it,’’ Chryst said of his team’s running game. “We felt like we could get some things. You change it, you figure out ways you can do it and I felt like they did a heck of a job playing the run. I feel like we did too many things to hurt ourselves. I say that, but I give them credit, too. They did some good stuff.’’

Sunseri then found Graham on a crossing pattern, but the play went for no gain. Pitt twitched into another false start on third and 15 from the 34, and on the next down SU defensive end Brandon Sharpe sacked Sunseri for a 9-yard loss.

“We have to play together. We shot ourselves in the foot,’’ said Panthers wide receiver Devin Street. “We’re our own worst enemy right now.’’